On Europe

Where do we all go from here? I wish I knew. In 1917, Americans discovered that they could never be secure in freedom unless Europe was also secure and also free--and though Americans have sometimes forgotten that truth, they have never forgotten it for long. Do Europeans reciprocate? And will they back that reciprocation with anything more than words? I wish I knew the answer to that question too. But here is what I do know: For half a century, Americans accepted the risk of nuclear devastation to safeguard Europe. Then, by a very strange twist of fate, the first hostile blow on the soil of a NATO country fell--not on Germany or on Norway or on Turkey, but on the United States. Can Europeans honestly say that since 9/11, they have returned the United States even a portion of the help that Europe would have expected and received had the need been reversed? Can you not imagine why many in America would feel hurt and abandoned by Europe in our hour of grief and danger?

This article could just as well be directed at much of Canada. Not those of us who aren't scum sucking, ungrateful wretches of course...

I only make that last comment because Canada used to be a nation with a national conscience. I'm afraid that I can't say we have one anymore. I don't expect much more from most European nations but, loving my country as much as I do, I hate to see us throw away all the goodwill and respect that our country has earned this past century.